"As a small business owner, I found out that I was the perfect target for cybercriminals when I read certified IT professional Darren Coleman’s book, Easy Prey: How to Protect Your Business from Data Breach, Cybercrime, & Employee Fraud. It inspired me to arm myself with some common sense and the realization that I am responsible for my viral life just as I am for my real life.

One of the things I learned from Coleman is that I truly am a sitting duck or easy prey when I become complacent just because I never had an issue with cybercrime, hacking or employee fraud. Until I did.

I am just like many small business leaders. “It won’t happen to me,” I thought. “Why would a hacker hit me? I don’t have anything they would want.” I was not prepared, and I did not have a disaster recovery plan in place because I thought my hosting company was protecting me. They weren’t.

Navigating through all the changes in technology and business is overwhelming, but the reality is most of our business exists in digital formats: Software, applications and data make up most of our daily workload and interactions with our clients. The reality is that we rely on computers and the internet just to get our work done, remain competitive and stay profitable.

In many cases, technology can make or break your business. When your phone doesn’t work, you can’t get connected to clients and serve them. If your email goes down, you can’t communicate quickly. If your website goes down, boom -- people can’t check you out. To protect against data loss, you should have a back up of everything on your computer, including the software, applications and data saved to a place that is off-site and in multiple locations.

Compared to an enterprise corporation, a small-to-medium-sized business is going to have far fewer resources, especially in terms of its IT. Having said this, an SMB isn’t necessarily without a few quality options. Let’s review the needs th...